Fairfield suspect's request to drop murder charge denied

A Fairfield man accused of the 1996 cold case homicide of his girlfriend was denied a request to have the charge dropped in Solano County Superior Court on Friday.

Homicide suspect Lonnie J. Kerley's defense counsel argued that his speedy trial rights had been violated based on the way the prosecution has handled the case since his October 2010 arrest. Kerley is charged with second-degree murder in connection with the death of Danna L. Dever.

Kerley was awaiting a preliminary hearing when a Solano County grand jury issued its indictment against him in August of last year. The indictment supersedes a preliminary hearing and the matter was set for jury trial.

On Friday, Judge Allan P. Carter ruled that Kerley's speedy trial rights began at the time of the indictment, and the ongoing investigation by law enforcement that has caused several delays as attorneys received new evidence was not unusual in a murder case.

Carter also mentioned that Kerley had entered a time waiver, essentially waiving his right to a speedy trial, and has made no attempt to withdraw it.

Prosecutors have said Dever was a victim of domestic violence and went missing from the Fairfield home she shared with Kerley in June 1996. Kerley, her live-in boyfriend at the time of her disappearance, reported her missing in August of that year.

A month prior to Kerley's missing person report, farmworkers found Dever's body in a shallow ditch but authorities were unable to identify her due to decomposition and injuries.

Last year, investigators scored a breakthrough in the case. Authorities identified the body as Dever's after matching a thumbprint from her California Department of Motor Vehicles records, according to officials.

A jury trial is set to begin 8:30 a.m. on Sept. 10 in Carter's Vallejo courtroom.